The cost of providing basic utilities—such as water for household needs—typically increases in response to a greater demand for the natural resources resulting from greater human population densities. In cost-sensitive residential areas for example, the infrastructure used to deliver the utilities is often installed and/or updated on an as-needed (and/or an when-affordable) basis in order to meet continuing increases in demand. As the costs increase, metering (and associated billing) of the utilities is used to help discourage excess consumption and more fairly apportion costs (for example, in accordance with the usage of each consumer). Because many of the updates are performed within varying dwelling structures that have not necessarily been designed to accommodate “retrofitting” of systems, the upgrade costs required vary considerably and often can exceed affordable pricing in cost-sensitive areas.